Chapter 237: Gold Jade Slip

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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Jin So-myeong, who was standing in the vacant lot in front of the city gate, moved his steps.

Before renting a cave dwelling, he decided to look around the city first as his feet led him.

In order to not be treated as a suspicious person, it was necessary to grasp the lifestyle of the Asura Race.

‘Jade Dew Leaf? That is a quite precious 3rd-rank spiritual herb. They sell it on the street as if it were nothing… Hmm?’

At the moment when he was walking along the street where street stalls were spread on both sides.

He saw a bizarre scene in the vacant lot that could be called the entrance to the market.

“You slug-like bastards! What are you doing standing still!”

“Fight right now!”

On top of a square platform made of smooth-textured stone.

Two Qi Condensation stage cultivators were staring at each other, and hundreds of Asuras surrounding the platform were shouting with intense excitement.

“Tsk. The day will break at this rate.”

“If you are not going to fight, get lost right now! Cowardly bastards… Oh!”

“That’s it! Well done!”

Was it because the word coward bothered them?

The Qi Condensation stage cultivators on top of the stage charged at each other, not caring who went first.

Thud!

A fist and a face collided, and an exhilarating slugfest unfolded.

Both Qi Condensation stage cultivators poured punches toward vital points without backing down even a single step.

‘Huh.’

Watching it quietly, admiration naturally came out. Because although their realms were low, their combative spirits alone were amazing.

Even though they became blood-drenched in an instant, they did not stop. They fought fiercely as if it would only end when one of them died.

‘To think such a fight is openly held on the street.’

The attitude of the audience shouting with excitement at the blood-splattering bloody battle looked quite familiar. It meant that this was daily life.

Even similar fights were scattered all over the city.

Whenever someone went up to the platforms installed throughout the city and fought a battle, regardless of age or gender, everyone swarmed to watch the fight.

‘An extremely combative race.’

At the moment when he narrowed his eyes as he felt the stark difference between the Asura Race and humans.

Crack!

A horrifying bone-splitting sound echoed from the jaw struck by an elbow, and the focus disappeared from the eyes full of combative spirit.

Thud. No one cared about the loser who collapsed weakly.

“Uraaaa! I won!”

“Waaaaaaaa!”

When the Qi Condensation stage cultivator who won at the end of being blood-drenched raised both of his arms high, everyone cheered.

To the Asura Race, being strong was a virtue, and struggle was daily life.

‘…Born with it. They are a race with amazing potential.’

Actually, there was one more reason why the Asura Race was dangerous.

When he released his Divine Sense to examine Jade Water City, he could know that roughly forty to fifty million people were living there, but surprisingly, without a single exception, all of them were Spiritual Root possessors.

It meant that every single person had the qualification to become a cultivator, but actually, this made no sense.

In the case of the human race, even in a city where cultivators lived, mortals lived together. In terms of population, they were numerous enough to occupy a considerably high ratio.

The reason why a culture where cultivators and mortals lived together was formed was simple.

In the case of the human race, the probability of being born with a Spiritual Root was roughly one in ten thousand, which was extremely low.

Although the probability of having a Spiritual Root increased when high-tier cultivators had a child, still, one could not be certain of having a Spiritual Root without fail.

Because of that, mortals lived together in the cities of cultivators.

If a child did not have a Spiritual Root, they were usually sent to the secular world, but there were also cultivators who wanted to live together.

However, the Asura Race was different.

As said earlier, there was not a single person without a Spiritual Root among the Asuras in the city.

Although there were cases where young children who had not started cultivating were mortals, the absolute majority were at least Qi Condensation stage cultivators.

Did they coldly kick out all those without a Spiritual Root?

No. The Asura Race was simply born with everyone possessing a Spiritual Root.

It meant that the entire population was cultivators, and looking at that alone, one could know how strong a potential the race possessed.

‘To think they overcame the invasion of such a race…’

Two hundred thousand years ago. He could not even guess how fierce a war the human race had fought.

How did they overcome the crisis? And what was the situation now?

Although he was full of curiosity, he did not hurry.

First, he wandered Jade Water City and observed what lifestyle the Asura Race possessed.

‘Cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage use spirit stones as currency.’

It had been about half a day since he observed the way of life of the Asura Race as if traveling. Only when he gained confidence in acting without awkwardness did he finally take a lodging.

He did not rent a particularly grand cave dwelling.

‘Since it is a place to stay temporarily anyway.’

He chose the most average room in a roughly noticeable inn.

Sitting cross-legged in a spacious room that felt similar to a cave, his eyes shone.

‘Let’s see what I have obtained.’

As soon as he ascended to the upper realm, there were six Asuras in total who came out of their way to gift him Soul Formation stage-grade storage pouches.

On the way from the fortress to Jade Water City, he had ordered his clones to organize the harvests, and he looked forward to what treasures would be there.

The moment he opened his sub-space.

‘Oh…’

Should he indeed call it a Soul Formation stage-grade storage pouch?

The treasures piled up like mountains were so numerous that they could not be counted one by one.

While scanning the treasures being systematically organized by his clones even at this moment, he picked up a jade slip.

[Unity of Void and Reality. To one who has reached the Unity stage, void and reality are one, so there is no need to distinguish them.]

[The supreme realm where one engraves an illusory mental image onto reality to shake the laws of heaven and earth. That is exactly the Unity stage.]

[To reach the Unity stage…]

The content contained in the jade slip was exactly about the Rank 6 Unity stage, which he had wanted to know so much.

Jin So-myeong, who was reading the jade slip without making even a breathing sound, let out a deep sigh.

Actually, he had been curious in his heart.

Upon becoming a Soul Formation stage cultivator, he obtained boundless spiritual power like the sea. If his mental power backed him up, he became able to handle limitless energy by dominating the surrounding spiritual qi.

If so, what would change upon ascending to the Unity stage?

The answer was in this jade slip.

‘The boundary of void and reality losing its meaning…’

It was said that the moment one became a Unity stage cultivator, they became an existence of a different tier than before.

If a Soul Formation stage cultivator was in a state like a sprout that had just taken a step toward transcendence, the Unity stage was like the sprout growing to become a giant tree.

‘To think one can handle god-like power within a certain domain?’

It was written that if one constructed a domain by collapsing the boundary of void and reality, a Soul Formation stage cultivator would be crushed to death without being able to budge even a finger.

He frowned naturally.

The jade slip consistently asserted that it was impossible for a Soul Formation stage cultivator to defeat a Unity stage cultivator, and the tone was so dogmatic that it even gave him a sense of resistance.

‘Is it really so?’

An impulse to verify himself whether it was truly so arose, but he held back.

Since a realm was equivalent to a weight class, there was no reason to court a disadvantageous fight.

‘Let’s focus on cultivating first. Elevate my realm as much as possible in a short period…’

If a moment that could not be avoided at all came.

It would not be too late to fight a battle then.

Anyway,

Thanks to the jade slip left by the Asura Soul Formation stage cultivator called the young patriarch, many of his questions were solved.

Even, it was extremely interesting that the method for the Asura Race to ascend to the Unity stage was written in this jade slip.

‘Sacred War.’

To briefly summarize the core of the Sacred War held every ten thousand years, it was for the Asura Soul Formation stage cultivators to gather and kill each other to occupy a single holy object.

To call it a simple match, it was too brutal as actual casualties occurred, but to the Asura Race, this was exactly a festival.

It was also a glorious ritual in which a new Unity stage Celestial Lord was born.

‘…Anyway. Does it mean one can become a Unity stage cultivator upon obtaining the holy object?’

Honestly, he coveted it.

‘I must find a way to participate in the Sacred War.’

Although participating in the Sacred War with a human identity would be accompanied by considerable danger, it did not matter.

What was more important than that was what could be obtained. If he could reach the Unity stage, he intended to tolerate a reasonable amount of danger.

Although he did not know whether the Asura holy object would also be effective for humans, if it was, it would become a promising way to ascend to the Unity stage.

Jin So-myeong, who nodded his head, continued to read down the jade slip, and his eyes flew open.

‘Information about the realm next to the Unity stage!’

It was said that the name calling the 7th Tier was the Integration stage or Dao Integration stage, and the 8th Tier was called the Grand Integration stage.

Then the next 9th Tier…

Since the birth of the cultivation world, throughout the entire history spanning over tens of millions of years, an unprecedented realm that not a single person had ever ascended to.

True Immortal.

The end that a cultivator could reach, the realm set as a goal when starting cultivation. The path toward the True Immortal finally became clear.

‘Unity stage, Integration stage, Grand Integration stage. Is the next one True Immortal?’

Unlike the relatively detailed explanation of the Unity stage, for the Integration stage and above, only the names of the realms were written, and there was almost no information.

Still, because it was very important information, he engraved it deeply in his heart.

‘Good.’

Returning to the beginning again, he picked up the next jade slip to continue organizing the harvest.

‘Heart-Rupturing Blood Art?’

A divine ability that displayed powerful strength in a split second by bursting one’s own heart, and in terms of effect, it was similar to the Blood Wings.

However, the side effect was much more severe on the side of the Heart-Rupturing Blood Art.

Although it differed depending on the realm, normally, if the heart burst, one had to focus only on recovery for dozens or hundreds of years as a half-corpse.

‘I do not need to learn it forcibly.’

This secret art was a secret art usable only by the Asura Race, who possessed two hearts.

Of course, because Jin So-myeong achieved the Undying Body, he would not die even if his heart burst.

Although it would be possible to learn it forcibly, because he possessed the Blood Wings, which was a much more powerful divine ability, he was not particularly drawn to it.

After scanning it roughly a few times, he examined other jade slips in succession, and most of them were body tempering cultivation methods handed down in the Asura Race.

‘…It is much better than expected.’

Because the Asura Race was a race possessing a history of over a million years, each cultivation method was extremely outstanding.

He had been worried because the Five Viscera Hundred Tempering Art reached Grand Success and there was no cultivation method to learn, but it seemed he could choose one of these to learn.

After examining hundreds of jade slips one by one, he made a decision.

Nine-Fold Golden Body Scroll.

Muscle, bone, blood, vessel, skin, flesh.

In addition to the six elements constituting the physical body, heart, qi, soul.

It was a top-grade body tempering cultivation method that trained even the spiritual parts.

The Nine-Fold Golden Body Scroll was a body tempering cultivation method trainable up to the Integration stage, and it was said that if one reached grand success, they would achieve the Nine-Fold Golden Body and be able to confront True Spirit-grade existences with their bare body.

‘Nice.’

The more he read, the more he liked it.

What kind of existence was a True Spirit?

According to legend, mythological creatures born by themselves from heaven and earth without parents were exactly True Spirits.

They were god-like existences that possessed a lifespan of over hundreds of thousands of years from birth and displayed mighty power.

Since even the weakest True Spirit possessed at least an Integration stage-grade divine ability…

It meant that if one reached grand success in the Nine-Fold Golden Body Scroll, they would possess an incredibly powerful physical body.

Of course, it was not that there were no disadvantages.

To reach grand success in the Nine-Fold Golden Body Scroll, one had to pass an incredibly absurd condition.

‘To think one must hunt a True Spirit-grade existence directly and take its physical body?’

Simply put, it meant that one had to fight and win against a True Spirit stronger than the Integration stage while not having reached the Integration stage, which was honestly an absurd condition.

‘Well, since I have the proficiency system. It will work out somehow.’

Just in case, he also meticulously examined other cultivation methods, but the Nine-Fold Golden Body Scroll was by far the most outstanding.

When he examined the cost to register it in the proficiency system, it demanded as many as 2.5 billion Supreme Great Abilities.

Although the maximum number of Supreme Great Abilities Jin So-myeong currently possessed was 2 billion, if he joined forces with Mugeuk, he could use up to 3 billion.

It meant he could enter the gateway of the Nine-Fold Golden Body Scroll right now…

He stopped for now.

‘Before spending the Supreme Great Abilities, I must also examine the gold-colored jade slip obtained in the Defeated Sage Dojo.’

What cultivation method would be contained in the jade slip left by Star-Shattering True Monarch for the inheritor?

He intended to learn the one he liked more between that and the Nine-Fold Golden Body Scroll first.

He took out the gold-colored jade slip kept preciously in his sub-space.

Was it because his realm had increased? What was not visible before was visible now.

A faint shape of letters shimmered on the surface of the jade slip, but no matter how closely he examined it, he could not know what it meant.

The moment he gave up trying to forcibly interpret the tiny letters and poured in his Divine Sense.

Pop!

The gold-colored jade slip, which completely turned into powder, seeped into his head without any gap to avoid.

[Before all things in nature took shape, at the beginning of time, there was the purest energy existing alone. That is referred to as the Innate Primal Qi.]

A masterpiece born from the joint forces of countless geniuses in the past. The essence of human cultivation civilization.

Innate Primal Qi Scroll.

The madness and obsession of someone who tried to shatter the heavens reached Jin So-myeong after passing through the vast time of two hundred thousand years.

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